Ah, Stephen King, my man, you always catch me every time with your books, and you always add something new to every story of yours. I’ve been meaning to get to The Dead Zone for a while but other books kept getting thrown to the top of my reading list since I never follow the order of the list I make, but I got to it and my god…
So the story starts off with Johnny Smith, a school teacher with psychic-like abilities, he acquired mysteriously from a head injury when he was a child. Years later, just after he graduated college, he gets into a near fatal car accident which leaves him in a coma for five years. Five years later, he wakes up to find; his girlfriend, Sarah had left him, his religious mother had gone crazy, and a part of his brain is damaged, which creates a “dead zone” in his psychic abilities. This “dead zone” means that there are certain details he can never see within has flashes or visions. The story follows his recovery, and his efforts to continue living despite having such a supernatural ability. Giving a few spoilers, he helps solve a murder in his hometown, and he later moves on to tutor a boy of a rich family and then attempt's to stop the campaign of a political figure, Donald Trump…I’m sorry I mean Greg Stillson. Okay, apparently I am not the only person out there comparing the two, but come on, they are pretty similar. I would into further details on these plotlines but that would cause spoilers.
Greg Stillson was one of those villains we don’t see a lot in stories. The only other literary villain I can compare him to is Iago from Othello. He has a grand reputation in the public eye, as he is a working class type guy running for president, so for most of the people, he is a person who knows what the people want. But behind closed doors, he is malicious, he is merciless and he is a massive, massive asshole, with no redeeming features. Most villains these days tend to have redeeming features, such as a tragic past, which fuels their motives, and makes us feel sorry for them. But with Stillson, there is nothing redeeming about him, he knows what he wants and is willing to do any dirty trick in the book to get his way.
This story was more of a character study then a plot driven story. We follow the life of a man trying to live a normal life despite having a special ability. It is made very clear that Johnny sees his psychic abilities as more of a curse then a blessing, making his existential crisis more interesting. This power he possess really interferes with Johnny’s life, and it makes his character more complex.
I was originally going to say that I thought the book was a little underwhelming because of how slowly paced the narrative was. I like a slow story because it can make the build-up to the climax more intense, but I did find myself forcing myself to read in certain places. But that all changed when I caught something clever in the way the book was written. For starters, the concept of the dead zone is never explained. But like in most Stephen King stories, the supernatural never has an explanation, defined by its own term. There is a small plothole through-out the story, almost like there is a “dead zone” in the narrative. What did Johnny see when he touched Stilson’s hand? What made Johnny realize he was “running out of time”? And what could be the cause of the dead zone? Well near the end of the book, those questions seemed to be answered, but not straight forward. It was so clever, because until you get near the end, you never notice the hole in the story because of how subtle it is.
This story was worth the read. It is a perfect example of a character driven story. If you want a story about a man discovering more about who he is, then I recommend this book.
But these are just my opinions. Have you read the book? Comment Below. And let me know if you spotted the reference to another Stephen King book in this book, because I came across it and I thought it was hilarious!!!
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